A shortage of asphalt is likely to delay further construction of the Kasy-Nan road, which is a short-cut for traffic between the central province of Vientiane and the northern province of Luang Prabang.
According to The project representative, the road construction, previously slated for completion in June, is likely to be finished after the rainy season in October. The asphalt shortage is the main issue that is causing delays to the building of the 68km road, which links Kasy district in Vientiane province to Nan district in Luang Prabang province.
The new road, built by the state at a cost of 479.9 billion kip (more than US$60 million), will cut 79km from the existing route between the two provinces, which is currently Road No. 13. This will reduce travel time from four hours to two hours between the provinces.
“We still have 16 km left in the Nan district to be surfaced,” he said, adding that this was the second delay after the contractors initially failed to meet the completion deadline, which had been planned as January 15.
It is also optimistic that when the Kasy-Nan road is fully and officially opens, it will boost trade by increasing transportation ease and capacity as this road will be the main transport artery through northern Laos. It will significantly cut the cost of transportation.
Source: LNTV Lao News broadcast on 14/05/2013
